Media devices, such as a set top box, are configured to receive media content. The received media content may be presented on a media presentation device, such as a television, a computer system, a monitor, or the like. The media content, such as a broadcast sports event or the like, is received in the form of a media content stream with at least a video stream portion and an associated audio stream portion. The media content stream is produced by a first media content producer.
For example, the first media content producer may be producing a media content stream pertaining to a sports event. The video stream may present the various plays of the sports event. The audio stream may present sounds made during the sports event, such as shouts made by the players and/or applause by the crowd. Also, one or more sportscasters employed by the media content producer may be contributing to the audio stream of the broadcasted sports event.
The video stream portion and the audio stream portion are temporally synchronized with each other during presentation. Once received and processed by the media device, the video stream is presented on a display and the audio stream is output from one or more speakers in a synchronized fashion.
However, a second media content producer may also be presenting their own media content pertaining to the sports event. For example, a local radio station may have one of its own sportscasters at the sports event and may be providing an audio-only radio broadcast pertaining to the sports event. Although there is no video provided by the second media content producer, many users may wish to hear the audio-only broadcast provided by the second media content producer because their sportscaster may be more familiar with team players, team trivia, team and player statistics, team and player histories, and local issues pertaining to the team and/or players. Accordingly, some users will prefer to view the video produced by the first media content producer and listen to the audio produced by the second media content producer.
However, there may be a time delay associated with delivery and presentation of the video stream and the attendant audio stream from the first media content producer. For example, the video stream (and its attendant video stream) may be broadcast to the user via a broadcast system that imparts one or more seconds of time delay between real time play at the sports event and the presentation time by the media device. This delay may be due to inherent processing time delays of the broadcasting system components, broadcasting delays for signal processing and propagation, and/or intentionally induced time delays.
In contrast, the audio-only stream of the second media content producer may be more quickly transmitted to a radio and/or the media device. The processing of the audio-only information may occur very rapidly since the amount of audio-only data is significantly less than the video stream and the associated audio stream that is produced by the first media content producer, and could therefore be broadcast with less of a time delay. Further, the audio-only stream is broadcast over the air using a radio frequency (RF) medium such that the shorter transmission distance may result in less of a time delay. Further, less time delay is required at the media device itself to process the audio-only video stream.
In situations where the user views the video stream produced by the first media content producer, and concurrently listens to the audio-only stream produced by the second media content producer, the user may perceive a noticeable mismatch between the presentation of the video stream and the audio-only stream. Such unsynchronized presentation of the video stream and the audio-only stream may be very distracting to the user.
Unfortunately, the user is not able to correct the unsynchronized presentation of the video and audio-only streams. Accordingly, there is a need in the arts to permit the user to synchronize presentation of the video stream produced by the first media content producer and the audio-only stream produced by the second media content producer.